Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ice Fishing 2011 - 2012

So, in my boredom and frustration waiting for a solid freeze, I started meddling with scrap wood in my basement, out of a desire to catch something on something I built myself. I dunno, call me crazy, but in a Hemingwayesque sort of way, I think that is a pretty cool way to test yourself and your abilities. Furthermore, I think that something like this could apply to the "if the SHTF" thread, and it might help with this issue:
So, after I get through explaining my overly complicated and unlikely to work device, maybe other posters could join in and discuss crazy contraptions they have made. At least it will kill time until we finally get ice.

So here goes nothing.


Thar she blows. Sorry for my grainy image, there isnt too good of light in my work area of my basement. The idea is simple, the line is guided out of the spool by an eye-screw set right in front of the spool, and then goes up to the eyelet on the arm, and down through the eyelet at the base.

Here's another grainy pic of the base, where you can see the eyelets in front of the spool and at the base,


Basically, the contraption takes the path of least resistance. Since the arm moves easier than the spool would when the arm is up, the arm moves first. then, once the eyes line up better when the arm is down, the line spools off pretty smoothly. I need to take that fluoro off and put a spool of braid on, but other than that and some spray paint to pretty it up, It's pretty much done.

Finally, when doing the dry run to make sure i had the spool tight enough on the wood screw (but not too tight), i noted that if the fish were to stop running away from the hole and start circling, or coming back, the arm would drop back down, making it way too easy to gut-hook when you dont see the flag up. So i did this:



The refrigerator magnet holds the arm up easily, and doesnt get in the way of the line moving smoothly between the 3 eyes.

Anyway, i dont think this is a new design by any means, so this might not be any surprise to anybody, but i would love to hear any suggestions on it, and i would happily hear any ideas anyone has for different construction.

Total cost: $0...it is all scrap and hardware i had in my workspace.
Total Time: 2 hours, mainly trying to fidgit with where to put the line guide and find the right length of the arm, tighten the spool properly and whatnot. After initial construction, i built another in the same dimensions in about 20 minutes. Just need a miter saw, drill, and 2 drill bits (thick one for the swinging arm, small one for pilot holes for screws).

Materials:
3 small L brackets, 2 of which are just for the magnet piece.
5 wood screws; 2 for the main construction, one for each magnet L Bracket, one longer one for the spool
3 wide washers, all used to make the spool turn and space it away from the vertical piece
1 machine screw for the swinging arm
1 nut for machine screw
3 washers for machine screw and swinging arm.
3 eye screws
1 1x oak material for base
1 1/2" dowel for swinging arm (long end is 15", dont remember how long the eyelet-end is)
1 2" wide piece of trim for the vertical piece, the scrap i cut off the top was used to reinforce the vertical piece.

And that's it.